The Port of South Louisiana has many locations throughout the southern portion of the State of Louisiana. The Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace is the headquarters. The Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace is about 33 river miles upriver (46 kilometers or 28 miles northwest) from the Port of New Orleans. The Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace is also about 70 river miles downriver (75 kilometers or 47 miles southeast) from the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The Port of South Louisiana is part of the Mississippi River Waterway system.

Located in St. John the Baptist Parish, the Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace lies on the east bank of the Mississippi River within the New Orleans metropolitan area. It is the southern end of US Interstate Highway 55 where it meets with Interstate Highway 10. The nickname for the Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace is known as the "Andouille Capital of the World." (Andouille is a popular Cajun smoked sausage.) The 2010 US Census reported that over 32.1 thousand people live in LaPlace.

Port History

In 1700, the Bayogoula people inhabited the area that would become the Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace. They lived in a village with the Mugulasha on the west bank of the Mississippi. French adventurer and explorer Lemoyne d'Iberville saw the village of from 200 to 250 men in 1699, describing it to hold two temples and 107 cabins.

An argument between the tribes' chiefs ended in the Bayogoula almost wiping out the Mugulasha. Soon after that, in 1706, the Houma Nation nearly exterminated the Bayogoula. Smallpox took its toll on the survivors. By 1721, most believed that the Bayogoula were extinct. By the late 1700s, the Bayogoula had been absorbed by the Houma Nation.

During the 18th Century in what was Louisiana's French colonial era, the farming village of LaPlace was settled. The 1811 German Coast Uprising started near the future Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace when about 500 slaves revolted against their masters. The uprising ended when its leaders being killed.

A smaller but more infamous revolt, the "Black Seminole Revolt," took place in 1836 at the Port of South Louisiana at LaPlace. This time, the Army gave the holdouts their freedom in exchange for surrender. This was the only instance of emancipation of Black Americans that took place before the American Civil War.

In 1871, a terrible flood began when the Bonnet Carre Crevasse occurred near LaPlace. Mississippi River levees upriver from New Orleans were breached, bringing the worst flooding to New Orleans that had happened since the late 1840s.